Creates emergency closure prevention fund for child care programs at risk of closure; appropriates $10 million.

S4187

SENATE, No. 4187

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED MAY 11, 2026

Sponsored by:

Senator� ANGELA V. MCKNIGHT

District 31 (Hudson)

SYNOPSIS

���� Creates emergency closure prevention fund for child
care programs at risk of closure; appropriates $10 million.�

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act
concerning child care, supplementing Title 30 of the
Revised Statutes, and making an appropriation.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� a. There is established
in the Department of the Treasury a nonlapsing, revolving emergency fund to
prevent the closure of child care programs resulting from decreases in
enrollment.� This fund shall be the repository for monies appropriated pursuant
to section 2 of this act and any available federal funding sources, such as the
Child Care and Development Block Grant of 1990, Pub.L.97-35 (42 U.S.C. s.9857
et seq.).� The State Treasurer shall be the custodian of the fund and all
disbursements from the fund shall be made by the State Treasurer upon requests
made by the Commissioner of Human Services.� The monies in the fund shall be
invested and reinvested by the Director of the Division of Investment in the
Department of the Treasury in the same manner as other trust funds in the
custody of the State Treasurer, in the manner provided by law.� Interest
received on the monies in the fund shall be credited to the fund.

���� b.��� The Commissioner of Human
Services shall develop an application process for the distribution of monies
from the fund to the owners of child care programs licensed pursuant to
P.L.1983, c.492 (C.30:5B-1 et seq.), or family day care providers registered
pursuant to P.L.1987, c.27 (C.30:5B-16 et seq.), by the Department of Children
and Families that are at risk of closure and document an enrollment decrease of
30 percent or more from the previous calendar year.�

���� c.���� Monies from the fund
shall be disbursed annually to owners of licensed or registered child care
programs with approved applications for assistance, pursuant to subsection b.
of this section, on a rolling basis until the fund is depleted.� A grant shall
not exceed $60,000 to any one entity in a calendar year.

���� d.��� The Commissioner of Human
Services may impose any additional application requirements on the owners of
licensed or registered child care programs who receive grant monies from a
federal funding source as necessary for compliance with applicable federal and
State law.

���� 2.��� There is appropriated
from the General Fund to the Department of Human Services the sum of
$10,000,000 to be credited to the fund established pursuant to section 1 of
this act to effectuate the provisions of this act.

���� 3.��� This act shall take
effect immediately; however, it shall remain inoperative until funds are
deposited into the emergency fund, and the Commissioner of Human Services may
take any anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary
for the implementation of the act.

STATEMENT

���� This bill creates an emergency
fund for the owners of licensed or registered child care programs that are at
risk of closure because of a decrease, at least 30 percent, in enrollment based
on the program�s enrollment numbers from the previous year.� The fund would be
established in the Department of the Treasury and the State Treasurer would
disburse the monies from the fund upon request by the Commissioner of Human
Services.�

���� The Commissioner of Human
Services (commissioner) would develop an application process, and child care
providers who meet the criteria would be able submit for a grant on a rolling
basis until funds are depleted for the year.� A grant to any one child care
program cannot be more than $60,000 per year.� Additionally, if federal funds
are deposited into the fund, the commissioner may impose additional
requirements as necessary to comply with the relevant law for the source of the
federal funds and with any applicable State law.

���� Additionally, the bill
appropriates $10 million from the General Fund.